TBT: When Maryland Home Values Began to Rebound

Back at the beginning of 2012 there came a “pinch me, I must be dreaming” moment. This was back in what seemed to be the “Bad Old Days”, when Maryland homeowners who even dared to check the latest in neighborhood home values were apt to spend a sleepless night or two as a result. Maryland home values, at this time, had only just begun to creep upward, but the bottom line and overall outlook was still a bit negative.

The ‘pinch me’ moment was a single piece of polling information that, by itself, seemed to register a hard-to-swallow phenomenon. If believed, it would have the first glimmer of light at the end of a very dark tunnel. It came in the form of a Rasmussen poll reporting some of what people in America were thinking. In part, Rasmussen summarized “Belief among homeowners that home values will increase during the next few years is the strongest it has been in over a year, as is confidence that their homes are currently worth more than what they still owe.” What an unbelievable change in outlook, a change that holds more impact then you first might imagine.

That poll might not have been as concrete as any of the hard numbers trickling in from the gatherers of residential sales volumes and prices, but in the long run it was probably more significant. As long as home values continued to plunge (as they had done for what seemed forever), there had been a good reason for home buyers to look at the Real Estate market in a bad light and resist the impulse to buy a Maryland home. However, in this case, Maryland home values didn’t have to actually fall in order to discourage market activity. Just flat-lining would do the trick. Recent history had been all downward, and nobody seemed too confident that the next movement wouldn’t be a continuation of the plunge.

For prospective first-time buyers who had ample lifestyle reasons for wishing to buy a new Baltimore area home, it just seemed more prudent to keep their home-buying on hold. But the real truth is that renting forever wasn’t going to get them (or anyone else) anywhere—and rental affordability had been headed to new heights since 2001…

That was why Rasmussen’s report on the turnaround in homeowner optimism had been such a ‘pinch me; I must be dreaming’ moment. The idea that people finally were expecting home values to rise was a such a change in psychology that it could singlehandedly actually fire up the market, irrespective of what the numbers could yet confirm. And that is exactly what happened.

Now fast-forward to the fall of 2015. The bottom is over. U.S. (and Maryland) home values are continuing to embark on the ongoing welcome momentum shift that’s now in the record books. Pinching turned out to be unnecessary; as it was no dream. In fact, you can take advantage of this fall’s healthy Maryland residential home market. So when you are beginning to think over your real estate options in Maryland, turn to ExecuHome Realty for a confidential no-obligation consultation.

Call us today at 443-632-3800… WE CAN’T WAIT TO HELP YOU.ExecuHome is Maryland’s Own Real Estate Company, and home to over 350 of the state’s finest and most experienced Realtors.